Watch out, America. Canada wants to beat you to the punch.
Ontario Power Generation (OPG), a Canadian utility, has earned permission from the government of Ontario to begin building the first SMR at the Darlington New Nuclear Project. The project has been years in the making—site preparation began in 2022—and with this last approval, construction is set to begin.
“This nation-building project being built right here in Ontario will be led by Canadian workers using Canadian steel, concrete and materials to help deliver the extraordinary amount of reliable and clean power we will need to deliver on our ambitious plan to protect Ontario and unleash our economy,” said Ontario Minister of Energy and Mines Stephen Lecce in a release.
Oh, Darlington: OPG’s plan for the Darlington site is to build four GE Vernova Hitachi-supplied BWRX-300 SMRs, providing a total of 1.2 GW of baseload power to the Canadian grid.
So far, only the first unit is approved for construction.
Ontario is backing the project, which has a CAD$20.9B total budget. The government expects the construction phase to create 18,000 jobs and inject $500M annually into the economy, along with 3,700 skilled jobs during the 65 years of plant operation.
GE Vernova expects the first unit to come online by 2030.
Dream big: The point of building an SMR is never just to build one SMR. The first one will be the toughest, requiring new supply chains and a new workforce identified and trained on the technology. The second one, ideally, will be easier.
OPG and the Ontario government expect to see costs come down for subsequent units.
- The first BWRX-300 is expected to cost CAD $6.1B, with an additional CAD $1.6B for systems to support all four units.
- With a total project budget of CAD $20.9B, some back-of-the-napkin math gives an average cost of $4.4B for each of the remaining three units.
“Building a fleet of SMRs with the support of Ontario’s strong nuclear supply chain will provide further opportunities to learn, identify efficiencies, and expand the supply chain,” OPG President and CEO Nicolle Butcher said in a release. “All of this invaluable, irreplaceable experience will prepare us to take on the next large nuclear project.”
Lead Reporter of Ignition
